Data storage systems comprising one or more data storage controls and accompanying data storage, for example an International Business Machines Corp. (IBM®) ESS (Enterprise Storage Server) such as a DS8000 ™, have the capability to increase overall storage capacity by adding additional storage devices. In one example, storage expansion frames may be added to the data storage or storage devices may be added to an existing storage expansion frame. The storage expansion frames are directly attached to the storage control through cables.
Once the storage capacity is increased, the user may create more volumes or increase the size of one or more volumes.
There are storage controls that do not have storage expansion frames or that have not added additional storage expansion frames. Thus, once all the storage is used up, the only way for a user to create new volumes or increase volume size is to delete volumes or to migrate volume data to tape, and then delete the volume to make space. Another possible solution is to move some applications to an alternate data storage system or control, and then to migrate the volumes that application uses to the alternate system or control and accompanying data storage, for example, through the host system. Each of these options takes time.